Goldman Sachs said it would start to make strategic investments in financial technology startups in India, becoming the latest global bank to seek innovative ideas in the country.Jochelle Mendonca | ET Bureau | Updated: April 15, 2016, 09:50 IST

Goldman Sachs said it would start to make strategic investments in financial technology startups in India, becoming the latest global bank to seek innovative ideas in the country.

The Principal Strategic Investments team has already begun early stage discussions with startups in the country, the unit's Hong Kong head Alokik Advani said.

“We are looking at investments in the $2-$10 million range. We are clear that these would be minority stakes. We do not want operational control,” Advani said at a media briefing in Mumbai.

Goldman’s Principal Strategic Investments team funds startups building technology that the investment bank itself could use.

“We are clear about what we bring to the table. We aren’t just coming in as an investor. We’re coming in as a customer. A validator of the technology,” Advani said.

The investments will be funded off Goldman’s balance sheet and there isn’t a target for how many the firm expects to do, Advani said. The PSI group currently manages 75 investments, 12 of which are in Asia Pacific.

Though the initial investments will be scouted for and made by Advani’s team in Hong Kong, he said it was possible that the company would look to place someone in India as the number of investments in the country grew.

Goldman is the latest financial firm to come to India to tap the innovation boom in the country. Last month, British firm Barclays launched its Rise in India programme in the country. Rise is a network of physical spaces and a virtual community designed to bring together startups working on financial technology.

In December, Citibank launched a corporate accelerator programme for the Asia-Pacific region to engage actively with startups from countries like India. Citibank India's head of consumer banking Kartik Kaushik said that the bank had already started engaging with a number of startups in India.